Colonel: 8-10 percent Iraq troops won't get leave

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=22320

The loss of thousands of Rest and Recuperation slots for troops in the Middle East during May and June has been met mostly with stoic resignation, say some deployed soldiers and family readiness group leaders in Germany.

“The crowd kind of took it all in stride,” said Ruth Hubner, FRG leader for the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment in Schweinfurt, Germany, after attending a community briefing last week at which the cutbacks were announced. “I don’t know if we’re all in denial. It really hasn’t affected us yet.”

Several of the largest units affected, including the 1st Infantry Division and 1st Cavalry Division, arrived in Iraq only three months ago. Their hands are full with the spring uprising by groups of both Shiite and Sunni rebels. The bloody insurgency has forced the Pentagon to keep more than 15,000 troops in Iraq and Kuwait beyond the usual one-year deployment.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Stuart Byrd of the 57th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) said his unit left Fort Bragg, N.C., more than a year ago and has been ordered to stay two to four months extra. Only about 40 percent of its members received R&R.

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...when will their replacements arive and where will they come from?

No specific answers forthcoming. I heard a lot of bureaucratic balderdash at an Army Dept. manpower press conference a month or so ago on Cspan, but no real answers. "It's all planned for. We have a plan."

.

They have no experience in war, either as a soldier or a commander, and they think that prosecuting an invasion is like playing Risk writ large. So you roll a couple of 1's, no big deal; there's still lots of little blocks left in the box.

Concepts like rotation, R & R, supply lines, re-supply, and morale just make their eyes glaze over. Sure, Chimpy needs to be on vacation 40% of the time (or more) that he's in office, but the troops can be on duty for months and months at a time, right?

Roll them dice again! I feel like a lucky 6 is comin' this time.